Pep Guardiola rates ten-man Bayern Munich’s ‘crazy’ 2-1 fightback win at Hoffenheim as one of the best Bundesliga matches in his three seasons in Germany.
A 90th-minute Robert Lewandowski goal sealed Bayern’s unlikely win after the Bavarian giants had conceded the joint fastest goal in Bundesliga history when Hoffenheim’s Kevin Volland scored after just nine seconds.
Bayern had begun the fight back when a Douglas Costa shot rocketed off the hands of Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann and Thomas Mueller jabbed home the rebound with his knee to equalise on 40 minutes.
The defending champions were reduced to 10 men when defender Jerome Boateng was sent off for an obvious handball from the free-kick he had just conceded to earn his second booking and a red card on 72 minutes.
Hoffenheim then wasted the chance for an historic first win over Bayern when Eugen Polanski blasted his penalty attempt off the post.
Munich claimed the dramatic winner when Brazil winger Costa fired in a superb cross, Mario Goetze let the ball roll and Lewandowski drilled home his shot.
“The last 10 minutes were somewhat crazy, we saw one of the best Bundesliga matches in the last three years,” said a relieved Guardiola.
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“I’m happy with the win and, above everything, with the performance.
“We knew it would be difficult here as Hoffenheim have always created a few problems for us in the last few years.”
Elsewhere, two late goals saw Hamburg rescue a win from the jaws of defeat against Stuttgart last night, prevailing 3-2 in an extraordinary game at the Volksparkstadion.
Two goals from Daniel Ginczek, sandwiching an Ivo Ilicevic effort, gave Stuttgart a 2-1 lead at half-time.
No player has scored more Bundesliga goals since the start of the 2013-14 season than Robert Lewandowski (39). pic.twitter.com/XVvseAmCJ8
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) August 22, 2015
Their hopes of holding on to victory were dealt a blow when Florian Klein earned his marching orders with more than half an hour still to be played.
However, it took until the final six minutes before Pierre-Michel Lasogga levelled and Johan Djourou grabbed a winner for Hamburg.
Darmstadt continued their unbeaten start to the season by picking up a 1-1 draw at Schalke in their first away game in the Bundesliga in over 33 years.
Finally, Wolfsburg snatched a point from their trip to Cologne thanks to a late goal from Nicklas Bendtner earning them a 1-1 draw.